Restaurant Dates Are The Worst! (Seb Stan x Reader)
by Bloody-Aliice
Summary: You agreed to go on a date with a co-worker and it turns out horribly boring. Luckily for you, the handsome man sitting nearby sees your distress and steps in.
1. Chapter 1

You looked around you, scrutinizing your surroundings, letting your eyes wander on the walls, the chandeliers, the dark-red faux velvet chairs next to the bar section of the restaurant – you looked anywhere but at the man sitting across from you, ungracefully shoving his spaghetti into his mouth all the while talking to you.

The reason why you hated dates just came rushing back to you but it was too late to back down now, you said yes – God knows why – and you showed up to this restaurant where your date told you to come. Although it has been a while since the last time you actually went out with a man romantically interested in you, you were pretty sure that if he didn't even make the effort to pick you up, the least he could do was to arrive on time. After three glasses of water, a couple bread sticks and a glass of whiskey, the waitress started to feel sorry for you and you spotted her whispering something to her co-worker while giving you a sympathetic glance. That's it, you were going to leave. But of course that's when he finally decided to show up, apologizing profusely and explaining that he came with the metro and he missed the station and had to walk two blocks before arriving here. Great, so now you knew that he wasn't going to drive you back home either.

His name was Robert - "call me Bob," he said, but there was no way, it was already difficult enough for you to process that you agreed to go on a date with a guy named Robert. Probably about ten years older than you – how would you know? - his hair was gray in some places, his forehead had a beginning of wrinkle and he seemed like the annoyingly flirty type of man whose smiles you couldn't trust. He was a gym teacher in the school you worked for a couple days a week – you were a nurse – and he was all over you since day one. Although he seemed pretty insistent, you had seen him hit on other women so you didn't think that he was really interested in you, more like aroused by the whole 'nurse' thing.

So why did you say yes? Well, you were kinda bored, you figured that maybe you had misjudged him and would spend a nice evening, and if not, maybe he would finally give up on trying to get in your pants. To say that you were _beginning_ to regret your decision was the understatement of the year. So far he talked about work, his mom, football and his ex. If he intended on seducing you, he needed to take a course on how to seduce women because that clearly wasn't going to work. It itched you to throw your drink to his face but it was good wine and you didn't think he was worth a fine Chardonnay.

"I'll go out for a minute, want to come?" He asked, making you blink a couple times and focus back on him. He was giving you a questioning look and held a cigarette between his fingers. To dismiss himself like that without even asking you if you minded smoke made you reconsider throwing your glass his way, but you figured that you couldn't exactly expect more given how this date started.

"I think I'll stay here, have another drink," you said, quickly gulping down the last of your wine. He was so boring you actually had the time to smell and taste the wine until you had figured out all the components.

He shrugged and stood up, not saying another word as he walked away from you and out the front door. Suddenly your brain started functioning again and you could almost hear the gearing creak from the lack of use these past two hours. You had reached dessert, the torture would end soon enough, right? Was it worth throwing some money on the table and escaping through the back door? Should you wait for him to come back and pretend you received an urgent phone call and had to leave immediately? Should you suck it up and stay anyway? Honestly, you would have ran away if you weren't going to see him again at work – but that would make your meetings too tense for you to bear.

You decided to stay, but if you were going to endure this whole evening, there was no way you'd do it sober. You headed to the bar, sitting on one of the leather stools and gesturing the barman to come over when he'd have finished serving the men at the far end of the counter.

"A gin tonic. Without tonic, if you please," you ordered, sighing deeply and rubbing your eyes, not really caring about your makeup. Your eyes drifted to the clock above your head. Ten twenty-three. You just wanted to go home and forget about this evening. This date definitely made it on your list of decisions you regretted.

"Rough night?" Someone beside you asked, causing you to snap out of your thoughts.

Glad someone had noticed your distress, you barely registered that he was attractive and simply went to answer.

"The worst! Never going out again!" You scoffed, glancing towards the door behind which you knew your _date_ was standing.

"I figured," he laughed. This time you took notice of his laughter. It's low and a bit raspy, pleasant to hear. "Saw you glaring at your date with your fingers on your temple a few times. I thought you were going to jump to his throat," he joked.

"It was a close call. In my defense-," you started, placing your hand over your heart, "he _slurped_ while drinking his wine."

"Unacceptable," the stranger said. He tried to pull off a severe face but the small wrinkles at the corner of his eyes and the way the corners of his mouth twitched upwards betrayed him.

You had absolutely no idea who this man was but you welcomed your first interesting conversation of the day with a huge smile and shifted on your seat in order to face him.

"Online dating and regretting it?" He asked out of curiosity. He brought his bottle of beer to his lips and chugged down the last of it. This gave you a glimpse of his forearms and boy, oh boy, were they nice. You cleared your throat.

"No, not at all. He's a co-worker of mine. The 'regretting it' part is correct though. He's been harassing me for a date for months and I gave in last week but that sure wasn't a brilliant idea," you explained quickly, fumbling with your glass of gin and trying not to stare at the man too much.

"I actually considered coming to your rescue a couple times but I decided against it," he told you in the most casual way.

"Why?" You frowned.

A smirk grew on his face at your question, as if he was pleased to see how disappointed you seemed to be that he didn't come.

"Well I didn't know how you'd react to a stranger interrupting your date, regardless how disappointing," he said and you had to admit it was a valid reason. Your hopelessness to ever get out of this date didn't help to make you think straight. "For all I know he could have been your husband."

Your eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

"God _forbid_ ," you declared before taking a sip of your gin. It burned your throat but it felt good and warm. "And for the record, if you had interrupted us, I would have bought you a thank-you drink. Probably," you added with a smirk and a wink, meeting the man's steady gaze.

You took a little time to really look at him. He was muscular – he had arms _for_ _days_ – almost beefy but not the steroid type. His chin was covered in dark brown four days stubble and his blue eyes were deep and playful. You noticed that his smile reached his eyes too. He wore his hair mid-long and styled it back – you noticed how he kept running his fingers through it to push it back when it fell in front of his eyes. This man was truly stunning, in this peculiar, lumberjack-ish manner. His navy shirt stretched over the most muscular parts of his arms and chest – a sweet sight for sore eyes – and he wore black jeans and black leather boots which adorned him with a rebellious style that didn't quite displease you.

"Probably?" He asked, his eyebrows shooting up in bedazzlement.

"Definitely," you corrected yourself, blushing furiously. Were you drooling? How long have you been staring? The whiskey you had while waiting for Robert, added to the wine you drank during the dinner and now the gin in your hand started to kick in and you couldn't tell how long you eyed him like that. You just hoped it didn't make him uncomfortable.

"Please do help me if he starts talking about his ex again," you gave him permission to cut short to your agony.

"I can do it," he said, almost eagerly. "I mean, for the drink of course."

"'Course," you agreed and finished your drink.

Your date would be back in no time now.

"Should I be the jealous ex boyfriend or the man who just caught his girl flirting with someone else?" He asked most seriously.

"You're really going to do it?" You asked in a laughter, baffled at how this stranger whose name you didn't even catch was willing to help you out of this catastrophe of a date.

"Sure, I can't leave you in this guy's company any longer than I already did. His poor attempts at flirting are an insult to all single people out there," he shrugged as if it was an everyday thing for him to rescue damsels in distress like you. But you didn't miss the fact that he casually dropped his current status as a single man. God bless.

"I give you free hand, you can do anything you want as long as it's really awkward and makes him take french leave!" You grinned and shook hand with the man, sealing the deal.

Your smile dropped when Robert came back into the room.

"Gotta go," you said, pouting slightly as you slid the money for the gin on the counter.

"Wait, what's your name?" The man asked.

"(Y/N)," you smiled.

"Sebastian," he introduced himself, shaking your hand before letting you make your way back to the table you shared with your date.

"Hey, sorry (Y/N)! I chatted a bit with another lad, hope you didn't miss me too much," he tried – and failed – to joke. You gave him a sarcastic smile and told him how insufferable the wait was.

"You know, I'm really glad you finally agreed to go on this date with me. I knew we'd click," he told you confidently. "It was only a matter of time, but I figured it was protocol for a woman to reject a man a few times before giving in," he kept on rambling, digging his own grave.

You were thinking of different ways to kill him with his dishes in your head.

"(Y/N)!" You heard Sebastian's voice call from behind you in a shocked tone. You closed your eyes and silently thanked heaven for his intervention. "What are you doing here?" He asked, making his way to the table and standing there next to you and Robert – who kept giving you questioning glances which you royally ignored.

"Sebastian!" You said in an enthusiastic yet slightly uncomfortable tone. "I'm... having dinner," you said, refusing to qualify this as a date in front of Robert who still had no idea what was going on.

Sebastian's expression suddenly changed when he finally laid eyes on the man, acknowledging his presence. You had to hold back a snort when you saw Robert's face go white. To be honest even if Sebastian was sitting too, he would still be intimidatingly tall and large, but standing tall and towering over Robert like he was made it a hundred times worse – or better, in your case.

"You're on a date?!" He almost shouted, crossing his arms over his chest to make his biceps more impressive – which was pointless in your humble opinion. "With _this_ guy?" He pointed his finger to Robert to increase the rudeness, and looked at you, awaiting an answer.

"I wouldn't call this a date, Seb, we're just two co-workers going out for dinner!" You slowly got into character and tried to justify yourself, raising your voice too. "What's the harm in that?"

"The _harm_ is that you canceled our night out for this loser!" Sebastian barked.

"Hey!" The said loser protested but both Sebastian and you ignored him and glared at each other fiercely.

It was becoming really hard to uphold his gaze without breaking out laughter, but it was for a good cause.

"You're the one who's always so reluctant to commit! I figured I might as well find myself a man who's not afraid of showing himself at my arm!"

You had no idea where this was going and simply shouted his way whatever came to mind. This is honestly the most fun you have had this week.

"Don't you try and make this about me, (Y/N)!" Sebastian replied, looking genuinely angry. "This is on you! If you want to go out with him, fine! But at least tell me if it's over between us!"

"Why do you always have to be so _dramatic_?!" You faked a sigh and threw your arms in the air.

"Uhhm... maybe- maybe I should leave you two alone to speak for a minute," Robert mumbled uncomfortably, ready to jump off his chair and run away.

"Oh no, stay Robert," you gestured him to sit down, not gracing him with one single look as you kept your eyes bored into Sebastian's. "He was about to leave."

"Out of the question, I'm staying," he said before taking a nearby chair and making room for himself between Robert and you.

"You can't do this, for God's sake! Have you been raised by _wolves_?" You protested.

"I- I should really go-"

"Stop interrupting us, _Bob_!" Sebastian turned around and shot him daggers with his eyes. "Where were we?"

"I was telling you how boorish and obnoxious you were," you snapped at him, leaning back on your chair and crossing your arms on your chest.

"Well, isn't that your type of men?" Sebastian asked pointing to Robert with his chin. Honestly that come back earned him a high five you'd be sure to give him once Robert leaves.

You faked a look of hurt and even made sure to quiver your lower lip.

"Did you come here only to say harmful things, Sebastian?" You asked, your voice considerably lowering and making sure to display as much emotion as you could. Emotions made most men uncomfortable, hopefully it would also be the case of Robert.

"You know what? I didn't see how late it was, I should get going," he tried to escape once again, not earning any reaction from the two of you.

Sebastian reached out for your hand but since you had your arms crossed, he simply rested his hand on one of your forearms.

"You know that wasn't my intention," he said in a soothing tone. The tension was so thick between the three of you that you could cut it with a butter knife. "I'm sorry I got upset when I saw you with him in _our_ restaurant," he said. Damn, he was good.

"I'm the one who set up the date here!" Robert felt the need to say, earning a stern glare from Sebastian, whose warm hand was still on your arm. Why was it so hot in here? "I-I mean, this is a pure c-"

"A coincidence, ugh?" Sebastian scoffed. "Listen man, if I was you, I'd be careful. This is _my girl_ you were hitting on," he practically growled at him.

Robert raised his hands in surrender.

"I didn't know, she didn't say-"

"Are you saying it's me who insisted on going out with you?" You asked, making sure to sound offended and a bit dramatic in your body language.

"N-no, I-," he struggled to get the words out.

"What are you still doing here?" Sebastian asked, giving him a look that clearly meant 'get the fuck out of here', and Robert threw the money for the dinner on the table with shaky hands before running off, almost forgetting his jacket in the process.

You waited for the door to close behind him before saying, "Took him long enough."

"Well, that was fun!" Sebastian said, pulling his chair closer to the table and adopting a more relaxed demeanor. You both laughed it off and cheered at your victory.

"I can't wait to see the colors leave his face next time I see him in a hallway," you told him. "The sheer thought makes this whole evening worth it."

"I think I scared him," he laughed.

"Oh you did! He was sweating from fear two minutes into it," you confirmed his statement. "I propose a toast!" You grabbed your glass of water and handed him Robert unused one after filling it.

"To what are we drinking?" He asked.

"To the free spaghetti I had tonight and to you, the gentleman who saved me from my horrible date," you suggested. Sebastian smiled and nodded, bumping his glass of water against yours and drinking it.

"How about dessert?" He asked, already gesturing the waitress to undress your table and bring the dessert card. "All this acting has me famished!"

"I never say no to dessert, as a principle," you gladly agreed.

He didn't switch chairs and stayed on the one next to you instead of taking Robert's empty one who was across from you. You preferred it this way, it was much less formal and job-interview like. Sebastian turned out being funny and intelligent – added to the fact that you couldn't keep your eyes off of him more than a minute or so. You spent the rest of the evening talking and laughing and whispering to each other in a playful tone. You learned that he lived around the corner and came here quite often, that he was currently on a break and that his full name was Sebastian Stan. You told him how you were a nurse and worked part time in a middle school, where you had the displeasure of seeing Bob every so often and were faced with his constant flirting. He frowned at that, and told you that if he ever bothered you, you could call him anytime and he's be your boyfriend of the night all over again.

That's how he gave you his number.

"I still can't believe he fell for it!" You shook your head, blushing a bit. Now that it was all over, you felt a bit ashamed for your behavior. It was acceptable back in high school but coming from two adults, it was rather ridiculous. But what was even more so was the fact that it worked.

"You pulled it off pretty well," Sebastian complimented you. "That lip quiver was perfect." He held back his sappy comment on how your lips looked perfect anyway and bit his own lower lip.

"Thanks," you laughed it off. "But that was nothing compared to you! Where did _that_ come from? I didn't expect it at all!"

"I had an idea when I came up but then I saw you looking at me and saying my name and my mind went completely blank. I had to improvise," he admitted, earning a blush and a smile from you.

"Have you ever been told that you're a very good actor?"

Sebastian made a funny face and shrugged before mumbling, "'couple times, yeah."

The evening came to an end and you knew it. You'd seen the restaurant and the bar slowly empty and now you were left alone with the barman, your waitress and a sleeping drunk sitting on a stool at the bar. You didn't want to leave just yet.

"I still owe you a drink," you said, as a false pretext to stay just a little longer in his company. "What can I get you?"

"Oh," he said, as if he had forgotten about it. He looked up to meet your eyes and without breaking eye-contact, he moved his hand towards you and suddenly, you felt his hand take hold of yours and squeeze it lightly. "I'm saving this one for our next date," Sebastian chuckled, grinning at you.


	2. Chapter 2

"Miss! Miss!" Someone called from behind you, making you start and turn on your heels. "Are you okay?" The student sitting on one of the chairs in your office asked you.

You had drifted off, _again_. And at work of all places! It was already awkward enough when it happened yesterday morning at the local coffee shop, resulting in the barista practically shouting your name before you woke up from your trance-like state, but in front of a student! That was unacceptable and your professionalism took a blow.

"Sorry, I'm fine, just thinking," you told your sick student. "You can go home, I'll let the school office know."

Your sick student seemed to regain some colors just by hearing this, and you shook your head, a smile on your lips as he walked out. He was probably heading home to play xbox all day long and eat pizza, but you were never one to tell a student to suck it up and go back to class, unless they were clearly faking. A girl once tried to skip PE by faking a nosebleed – with actual fake blood, that nasty stuff you could buy everywhere on Halloween.

Not the best example since you still let her go home. But in your own defense, it had nothing to do with the actual sickness, it was because she had Robert as teacher, and you took pity on her for having to deal with him on a weekly basis.

You sighed loudly and let your tired body fall limply on your chair. It was uncomfortable and your back hated you for sitting on this poor excuse of a chair three days a week, but it paid your bills and your masseur, therefore you dealt with it.

That's when your phone rang, which made you almost jump to the ceiling. What was it with your jumpiness lately? After quickly checking who it was calling you at office hours, you picked up, a smile on your face.

"Hey hot stuff," you greeted Sebastian whose laughter filled your ears as soon as he heard your nickname for him. Every time he called you he got a new one. "What's up?"

" _I just finished a scene and I wanted to check on you before going back_ ," he said, sounding tired but still enthusiastic to be speaking with you. " _Anything thrilling happened today?_ "

"Oh, you wouldn't _believe_ the day I just had!" You made sure to sound extra sarcastic and when you heard him laugh again, you felt like it was a win. "This kid came in earlier, said he felt like throwing up or something and even fake coughed a few times. You should have seen him practically running out of my office when I told him to go home," you told him, rolling your eyes at how obnoxiously dramatic teenagers were, even if he couldn't see you.

" _Wish I had a nurse like you when I was in high school_ ," Sebastian chuckled.

"Well," you stretched the syllable to no end. "You have me now," you teased playfully, bringing your feet on your desk and slowly twirling on your desk chair.

" _Don't intend to let you go_ ," he assured you. " _Hey, I was wondering... Halloween's coming up, planning on going as a zombie nurse?_ "

"A zombie nurse, seriously?" You questioned, baffled. "Well, I'm sure it'd be funny going back to work with my blouse covered in fake blood to greet my students, but that's not what I had in mind."

You heard him scoff amusingly and just when he was about to say something you cut him off.

"And no I'm not telling you what it is! You'll have to wait and see." You just enjoyed it a little bit too much torturing him like that.

" _Oh please, doll!_ " He tried softening you with his favorite nickname for you.

It was something he had picked up from his latest character, Bucky Barnes. After having to talk like a ninety year old dude for months, it had rubbed off him. His 40's slang wasn't half bad though. You both laughed and teased each other some more while Sebastian updated you on his filming schedule and told you about his day, although there wasn't much he was allowed to say since he was under strict confidential rules – no telling your girlfriend what happens in the movie.

"I miss you," you finally said, mentally facepalming yourself because it sounded lame and cheesy, but also feeling your heart swell a bit.

You _did_ miss him. He had been gone for three weeks, filming in Romania and Germany – that was all you knew, you didn't even know in what city he stayed. The upcoming Captain America movie was a big deal and you were over the moon happy for him, but going three weeks without seeing him started to get old. You wanted him home, back in New York and preferably in your arms.

" _Ditto_ ," he said softly under his breath, and you'd swear you could picture the smile on his face as clear as daylight. " _I'll be back soon, I promise_."

"I know."

As soon as the words left your mouth, you heard shy knocks against your door, undoubtedly signaling that another student was feeling sick.

"I have to hang up, duty calls," you informed him. "Go save the world, Sergeant Barnes," you playfully told him. You knew that he was rolling his eyes at you, and it made you smile.

" _You go save yet another student from a potentially fatal nosebleed,_ " he mocked you teasingly. You laughed and quickly said your goodbyes and biding him a good night since it was already past ten in Germany.

"Come in!" You shouted so whoever was standing behind your door could hear you. One hour to go before going home.

000

The glass of white wine sitting on the side table next to your sofa had been your best friend for the past four weeks, and the sheer thought was depressing. You were never one to make a fuss out of the man you dated, but this one made you feel like you were sixteen all over again. You blushed, stuttered, made a fool out of yourself and got flustered around him, like a virginal schoolgirl. A virginal schoolgirl with a drinking problem at that.

Or maybe it was just that you still weren't over him being famous. When he told you about his 'business trip' in Europe, your eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. He was so sure that you knew – after all, he _did_ tell you him full name the first time you met – but you had no idea. Not once in your life have you considered the fact that your current boyfriend might be a celebrity, that was too Rom-Com to happen in real life.

Right?

"Damn it," you grumbled, taking the bottle of wine and putting it away.

It was real though, you weren't in a bad movie or a Stephenie Meyer book. After he broke the news to you, you went home in an altered state of mind, walking back to your apartment like a zombie. For the first time in your life, you sat down at your desk and googled the name of your boyfriend. That was probably something quite frequent among teenagers – to look up their crush on facebook, or twitter, or instagram – but so far you avoided doing it. You were a twenty-nine year old grown ass woman goddammit! You were supposed to be an _adult_.

Did Cinderella google Prince Charming? You didn't think so.

And when hundreds of thousands of HD pictures of Sebastian appeared in front of your eyes, along with a long Wikipedia page, your felt your eyes roll back in your head. You fanned yourself with your left hand, feeling a bit hot suddenly and why was the room _spinning_ like that?

No need to say that the following night you didn't get much rest, you were too busy catching up on all the movies Sebastian starred in, binge watching his entire filmography from sundown to sunrise in chronological order. By the time your alarm clock rang – pointlessly really, because you hadn't slept – your eyes were dry and bloodshot and your head a bit fuzzy, but you felt like you weren't doing that bad given the circumstances.

Every now and then – especially since he was away – you replayed in your head the _three months_ you spent with him before finding out, searching for clues, hint drops. But honestly, _three months_. The amount of time it took you to find out was absolutely ridiculous, and it had you staring off into the distance every time you thought about it, as if contemplating your own obliviousness and stupidity. Like, let's be honest, for someone who successfully finished medical school, you'd think you would notice sooner that people stared at your boyfriend in the street and remember that he basically appeared in one of your favorite TV Series when you were young. You'll never let him live down the fact that he played a part in Gossip Girl.

Now, one night wasn't enough to go through all the movies and series he played in, but you took advantage of his time in Europe and watched them all – it was a way to see him even when he wasn't sitting on the couch beside you, his strong arms draped over your shoulders, making you feel smaller and more fragile than you are. Watching in chronological order had the massive perk of you getting to see him grow up – you'll have to ask him later what the _fuck_ happened to his hair in Hot Tub Time Machine because it was truly _hilarious_.

But back to your current distracted state of mind – you really had to talk to him about it when he comes back - you couldn't fathom not seeing it. How could you convince yourself that people started at him only because he was tall, and thick with muscle and handsome, and-

Yeah, how _could_ you? Having a couple girls drooling over themselves when he walked past them wasn't too weird but once you reach ten it's odd. But you gotta be honest with yourself, you did drool a little bit too that night at the bar. Although you had no idea he was a famous actor, you had perfectly functioning eyes and you very much appreciated the view of his button up shirt struggling under the pressure of his thick arms stretching it and-

Yeah, you could understand that people stared, but there was a difference between not realizing and burying your head in the sand.

When you considered the fact that it barely took you two dates to reach third base and score – you hit the first two in the taxi back to your place – it was astounding to think that you were so slow to find out who he really was. Nothing about his behavior hinted toward it – Sebastian was natural and dorky and like any other man his age, only a thousand times kinder - and hotter, which doesn't hurt, we'll all agree on that.

That night you fell asleep with the remote control in your hand while Once Upon A Time still played on TV, laying across your couch, your hair spread over a cushion and your blanket on the floor where it fell earlier.

When you woke up, the blanket was not on the floor anymore.

000

Your cozy little neighborhood in the North of the Upper West Side wasn't exactly the typical burglar infested area of Manhattan, and you highly doubted that a thief would take the time to gently draped your blanket back over you. Which only left two options: either your grandma broke into your apartment last night and thought you were cold, or-

"Sleepy head awake?" A low, raspy voice you had grown to adore asked from the little kitchen.

You rose from your spot and let the blanket slip down your body again before you made your way to Sebastian's opened arms, jumping in his arms and greeting him with a proper kiss. Gosh, that was something you had always dreamed to do – and now that he got all beefy and gained thirty pounds of muscle for Civil War, you weren't going to deny yourself this little pleasure.

"You're home!" You cheered in excitement, forgetting about your tiredness and focusing on showering Sebastian in kisses to show him just how much you were happy to see him.

"Told you I would be back soon," he reminded you, shooting a bright smile your way. "I came home late last time – or was it early this morning? - either way I didn't have the heart ot wake you up," he explained, pecking your lips and grinning wide.

That was the kind of smile that reached his eyes and caused little crinkles to appear at the corner of his eyes. His unshaven stubble grew into a short beard and his hair was even longer than when he left. He let it grow specifically for the role, just like he gained weight and muscle for it. A large grin appeared on your face in response to his, and you felt his strong hands squeeze your thighs in an affectionate way.

"The others are still over there, but I jumped in the first plane as soon as I finished my last scene – they don't need me for all of them anyway," he informed you. "I really do hope you didn't replace me with Bob while I was gone," he chuckled, gently reminding you yet again of that fail of a date you endured the day you met Sebastian.

"It was hard but I resisted to his charms," you snickered playfully, amused by his failing attempt to not sound jealous. Although there was literally _zero_ reason for him to ever feel jealous - of Robert of all men! -, you found it cute that he was. You knew Sebastian didn't like the fact that you were exposed to your co-worker's prying eyes three days a week, but he tried not to show it. He was just being wary of him and he didn't like his lack of manners. "Don't leave me for so long a time again," you uttered softly, leaning against his ear and burying your nose in the crook of his neck.

Oh, how you had missed his scent. He smelled like a warm summer day, wood and musk. You thrived on this smell. _God_ , what a school girl you were!

"I wouldn't leave if I didn't have to," he sighed, knowing where this was headed.

People tend to only see the bright side of being 'famous', they see the money, the designer clothes, the red carpet, but not the countless hours of plane trip, the makeup, the several shoots before a scene is deemed perfect. They don't see the chaotic schedule that nips in the bud all of your relationships or attempts to have one.

"I'll give you a doctor's note," you replied, taking him aback.

You smirked and wiggled your way out of his grip, only stopping when your feet hit the cold tiles of your kitchen floor. Sebastian scoffed lightly, unable to hold back the smile he tried to conceal. He gave your backside a little squeeze before gently reminding you that you weren't a doctor, but you shrugged it off.

Your hands moved up from his shoulders to the back of his neck, fiddling with his hair. It was held back in a bun, leaving his face exposed and not hidden behind rebellious strands of hair. He still wore the sneakers and sweat pants he wore for long flights and lazy days, along with one of the shirts he had left at your place a few weeks ago – just in case. He didn't know that you had been sleeping with it the whole time he was away from New York.

"What are you smiling for?" He asked upon seeing your cheeky smile, indisputable proof that you were thinking of some unspeakable thing.

"Nothing. I'm just glad to have you back. Life's oddly dull without you around," you admitted.

It's only when the words left your mouth that you realized how true it was. A long time ago you vowed to never let a man become the gravitational center of your life, and here you were, spending a whole month watching all the movies and series in which Sebastian played because he was far away, on another continent and you didn't know how else to distract yourself from how much you wanted to be in his arms, much in the way you were right now.

He fake coughed, "Lame!" and your mouth fell agape. The audacity! Slapping his shoulder to scold him was about as useless as trying to punch a wall and expect it to hurt, but at least you tried.

"You're just lucky I'm so happy to see you, otherwise there would be payback for that!" You warned him, fake biting his nose and kissing him again, more deeply this time.

Sebastian answered to your eager lips with equal force, his hands resting in the hollow of your back to press you up against his chest, and you noticed he had been working out even more since he left. You weren't going to deny that it pleased you. The two of you hadn't reached the point of your relationship where you introduced each other to your friends and family, but you'll be happy to show him off at your arm when the time comes.

A sneaky hand of his slipped under the hem of your jeans and you gasps into his mouth, causing him to smile into the kiss. He was about to break your embrace, but you pulled him back in the kiss by grabbing his collar and forcefully bringing him down to your height.

"(Y/N)," he finally uttered when you left his swollen lips and started nipping and biting on his jaw – the man had a jaw so sharp you could cut yourself! "Now?" He asked and you knew what he meant.

"Of course now! When is it not the time?" You giggled. "Were you going out for a run?" You questioned.

"Uh- yeah, actually," he answered, hands fumbling with your shirt as yours messily yanked off his own.

"I have a much for fun fat-burning activity in mind."

000

You leaned over, strewing a path of hot kisses down Sebastian's chest to his stomach and then back up until you reached his lips.

"(Y/N), it's past midday," he groaned when you started giving light bite to his neck. "How can you not be tired?"

"Tired?" You huffed, amused. "How old are you again?" You teased him, earning a pinch on the butt. "Aouch!"

"Earned it!" Seb rose from the bed and engulfed you in his arms. "I only slept, like, four hours," he reminded you. "And I'm famished."

"Mmh, now that you mention it, I'm kind of hungry too," you admit, letting your fingers run down his shoulders. "You know-" you started, biting your lip. "No, never mind."

You let go of him and started shuffling the sheets to untangle your legs and get up, but his grip on your wrist had you falling back down right in his lap.

"Wait, wait, wait, not so fast!" He pulled you up. "What was that? You wanted to say something."

"It's nothing worth saying out loud," you said, trying to get up again. This time he let you do but he also followed right after you, joining you in the kitchen.

"I'm not letting this go," he warned you, stealing the cookie you were holding from your hands.

"Hey!" You protested. "That was mine!"

"And now it's mine," he said, shoving your cookie in his mouth to prove his point. His eyes went wide. "Wow, those are delicious!"

"Thanks, I made them myself. To eat with my wine as I waited for you," you shot him a smirk and opened your fridge to dig out something to eat.

Sebastian walked up behind you and pushed himself flush against your back.

"Tell me what you were going to say," he insisted, his hands traveling south of your body.

"I was going to say-" you started, already cursing yourself and your inner schoolgirl. "That I could definitely get used to your new physique," you admitted. "Jeez, I'm starting to talk like your character!" You snickered in a self-mockery. He made you spin around to meet your eyes.

"Really?" He smirked cockily, unable to hold back his large smile from spreading wider.

"I didn't mean to say this out loud, it was supposed to stay in my head," you tried to explain, laughing at the ridiculous situation. "Sorry."

"Sorry for what? At least now I know that my _physique_ pleases my girlfriend," he playfully replied, emphasizing on the old-fashioned word. "Didn't take you to be the kind of woman attracted to beefy guys," he commented.

"I'm not," you assured him, your face dead serious. "Just to you."

"Oh, now I feel better," he said.

"Stop mocking me!" You shoved him when you saw his cheeky smile that couldn't mean anything good. You put a point of never letting a man know he had you in the palm of his hand. For a brief moment you wondered how much you had failed on a scale of one to ten when you saw Sebastian's expression.

"Then I suggest you enjoy these guns as long as they are there," he then said, reaching out to take two cup of coffee out of the cupboard. Your horrified expression had him cackling. "Don't give me those puppy eyes, (Y/N)! Do you know how many calories I have to eat everyday to maintain this stature? I have five meals a day!"

"Oh I know," you said, shrugging. "I'm the one cooking them," you reminded him.

"Right! But it's exhausting and I'd feel better if I could go back to eating like a regular person," he confessed, bringing his hand up to your chin so he could wipe away your sulking expression with a kiss.

"As long as you feel good and promise to keep that handsome face, I can deal with everything," you assured him, making Seb laugh. "I'm kidding, of course," you quickly added. "For the face thing, I don't love you for you looks- I mean, I love your looks but I don't love you only for that- I just- shit, I should shut up now," you blushed fiercely and mimicked to zip close your mouth when you realized how many times you accidentally used the word' love' when neither of you had said _the thing_ yet.

A pounding alarm in your head was drowning out any other sound, blasting an 'abort mission' siren over and over again. If you could, you'd hide in a mouse hole. But despite being only five foot four, you still weren't small enough to do that.

"Let's just act as if I wasn't a complete dork and forget what I just said, yeah?" You suggested, hoping for the best even though it was highly unlikely.

"I don't think I can forget that," Sebastian said, shaking his head and grinning even wider than you thought was possible. At this point, you seriously considered jumping out the window of your kitchen - even if you doubted that you'd fit through it – just to avoid that conversation.

"You don't have to say anything," you said to give him a safe conduct, looking panicked and flustered.

You could only guess how red your face was, but you'd bet it was too dark to stay unnoticed. Being the gentleman he was, Sebastian didn't point it out, but you knew that he saw it and you cursed yourself for blushing so easily. There was a deeply humiliating dimension to this situation. You shook your head.

"I'm sorry if I-"

"Stop rambling, (Y/N)," Seb cut short to your inner self-flagellation by putting his hands on your shoulders. "I love you, too."

Your mouth fell open. You closed it and opened it again to say something but nothing came out and you closed it again. You probably looked like a fish, so you stopped.

"Really?" Your eyebrows shot up.

Stupid _! Stupid! Stupid_! That's the _stupidest_ reaction possible (Y/N)!

"Is it that surprising?" Sebastian frowned and shook his head, confused.

"No! I mean, yes! I mean- I'm sorry, but I can't English anymore," you stuttered out, blushing even more – if it was possible, that is.

He chuckled, "I can see that."

"I just didn't expect to hear you say this," you explained.

"I've wanted to say it as soon as I realized that you didn't know who I was. But, I didn't want to tell you right before leaving, I thought it wouldn't be very... delicate," he smirked, looking down to your now joined hands.

"I don't doubt my capacity to answer you with a full sentence but you're still shirtless and it's difficult for me to concentrate right now," you said, glancing down to his bare chest. "But I'll make an effort for you, and I- I love you. I really do. Beefy or not," you managed to croak out, still very much hot and bothered by the proximity of his statuesque body and the embarrassment of having spilled out your feelings just like that, while coffee was brewing next to you.

"As long as I keep my handsome face?" He asked, smiling.

"Yes and, also, never do that Hot Tub Time Machine haircut _ever_ again," you giggled, feeling better already now that it was out there and that he didn't seem to make a big deal out of it.

Your hands found their way up to his neck and you stood on your tip toes to put your lips on his and kiss him like there was no tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 3

"Geez! My hair is out of control!" Sebastian cursed, approaching his face from the mirror and repeatedly running his fingers through his hair in a vain attempt to tame it.

He took pride in growing his own hair and not having to wear a wig – he heard it was extremely uncomfortable. But of course, now that the shooting was over, it was bugging him. You watched from afar, holding back a laughter by biting your cheeks.

"How do women do it? How does it stay back and not in your face?" He asked from your bathroom, still struggling with his mane.

You came to his rescue, quickly opening a drawer and pulling out a hairband.

"It _doesn't_ just stay in place, you know," you laughed, handing him the hairband. "Gotta make it stay in place. Just tie it back."

Sebastian gave you a thankful smile and took it from your hand.

"But you don't need to tie your hair back!" He argued. "Actually, I don't think I've ever seen you wearing your hair up – except when you work out."

At that you rolled your eyes, and grabbed the hairband back from his hands. You shuffled closer to him, placing yourself between the sink and Sebastian, whose hands immediately found their place in the small of your back. Your arms looping around his neck, you leaned your head back to have a better look at him before lightly kissing his lips while your fingers ran through his hair, pulling it back and tying the hairband around it.

"I like this on you," you told him, earning a assertive smirk. The spark of lust in your eyes as you took in his appearance didn't go unnoticed and Sebastian knew what the faint blush on your cheeks and your short breaths meant. He grinned at you before diving down to your neck, causing a squeak to escape from your lips as he gently bit on your skin. "And the beard too."

"The beard? Seriously? I thought it was itching you when we kissed, I was actually considering shaving it off before we leave," he admitted.

"I forbid you," you said, grabbing his chin in your small hand.

"I'll have to shave it off at some point," he replied. "For filming, for starters. And also because my mom doesn't like it when I don't shave, she says I look like a mountain recluse," he laughed.

You thought about it for a second, before saying, "Well, I would have said more like a lumberjack. A hot one, of course, you know like Wolverine Origins lumberjack?" You were rambling, you knew it, but your mouth had a will of its own. "If I have to chose between your hair and your beard, please be my guest and shave the thing off. But the man bun stays, it looks too good on you," you concluded, the word-vomiting seeming to have come to a stop.

"Thanks, love. I duly note that you have a man bun kink," he teased you, capturing your lips when you were about to answer and cutting short to any form of protestation.

"S'okay," you said a couple minutes later when he pulled away. "I know your kink too," you said triumphantly, wiggling your eyebrows a little.

His shot up in bedazzlement at yours words and his mouth fell open. Disbelief was written all over his forehead, and it made you giggle. You inwardly cursed for always laughing like a little girl, but he just brought your inner child out whenever he gave you this look. Or whenever he acted like a child too – which was a lot more often than you'd expect a thirty-four year old man to. But he didn't seem to mind, and you certainly didn't. He was manly enough to pull off being a complete dork, with an adorable habit of giving puppy eyes when in trouble.

"You do?" He asked, apparently to believing a word of it.

To prove your point, you hopped on the edge of your sink, praying to whatever god there was that you wouldn't break it of slip off of it. That was just the typical stuff that happened to you in sexy situations. When you were sitting there, facing Sebastian who harbored a confused yet amused expression, you brought him forward by wrapping your legs around his hips. From surprised, his smirk grew to excited and very pleased with whatever was happening. Suddenly, he froze. You were slowly moving your left foot up and down his leg, feeling with up with your pumps on.

"I know how much you like it when I wear heels, don't even think I don't notice the way you look at me!" You chuckled at his stunned but tender smile – his gorgeous smile that always reached his eyes. Even his face was thicker since he started filming Civil War, and he looked even more rugged and strong than the first time you met.

He groaned, "That's a low blow, (Y/N)." His hand thoughtlessly grabbed your leg under you knee, digging his fingers in your flesh there. "If you get me turned on now, you'll have to take care of it yourself or I'm not coming," he warned you, his eyes dead serious.

You obliged and let your legs drop down his sides. When your feet hit the floor, he let out a sigh as if he had been holding in his breath. You smirked a little, proud of yourself for getting him worked up from just a little stroke of your heel.

"Now we're even," you said. "And you're right, we have to go," you declared when you checked the time on his wrist watch. He mentioned a couple times – a couple times a _day_ – that you might want to get one of your own, but you always replied that it was just an excuse to take his hand. "I promise, tonight I'll wear these pretty things to bed if you behave!" You raised your right hand in sign of good faith.

"Why are you doing this to me?" He groaned again, as if you were putting him in torture.

"'Coz I love you."

A little smile tugged at his lips at that. He leaned down to kiss you, choosing to show you how much he loved you back instead of saying the words. After a moment, he broke your embrace as asked, " _Only_ these?"

"Only these," you nodded.

You both broke into a fit of giggles, only then realizing how ridiculous your whole conversation was, but then again, it was often the case, you two had just too much fun together, even the most mundane things became exciting.

"I would _never_ have guessed you were into lumberjacks!" Sebastian laughed, still not believing.

"Well, it's a little unlikely for me to meet a sexy pirate or a viking warrior, right? Gotta live with your time," you sighed in much too serious way considering the utter nonsense that just came out of your mouth.

At that you both lost it, burying your head in each other's neck to muffle your laughter.

000

Your school had an open house day and you signed up to keep a food booth for the afternoon, and when you told Sebastian he insisted on coming with you so you signed him up as well. It's not like you were a teacher here or anything, so you didn't have your own room, but at least you were That SuckerTM, who worked here but didn't even show up at such events – unpaid events. Sadly, neither was Robert.

"I hate him," Sebastian grumbled from behind you.

It's true that Robert had not exactly welcomed the fact that he had been played and lost the girl, but you didn't like feeling like a sexual object two men battled for. Even more so when there was no competition whatsoever since you would rather fall into a coma than go out with that boring, disaster of a man ever again. The fact that he was persevering after the crushing defeat he suffered against Sebastian, you'd think he would get it and drop it. That would be too simple of course. And so he decided to spend his day looming around your booth, watching you when he thought you weren't looking and constantly coming back for coffee – you were pretty sure he wouldn't be able to sleep for the next two days with all the caffeine he drank today. You were pretty tolerant and calm, but your boyfriend's own patience was wearing thinner with every one of Bob's cup of coffee.

"Is he still here?" You asked him, not wanting to check for yourself – if you so much as made eye contact you'd have to smile to not make it awkward and he would take this as an invitation to come over and chat. There are some mistakes you only make once.

"Of course he's here! He's standing over there like a complete idiot, staring at the bottom of his empty cup," Sebastian informed you, shamelessly glaring daggers his way. "Tell me again why I can't talk to him?"

You shook your head no in an alarmed yet somewhat amused fashion. That was typical of men, always wanting to make this clear by intensely staring at each other, waiting for the weaker one to look away.

"Because it's rude, and I can handle him," you reminded him for the tenth time today. You were one hour away from going home. You stepped closer to Sebastian who was sitting on the only chair they gave you for your booth and gently grabbed his chin between your fingers. "He's harmless, and I'm a big girl who can take care of herself. It's nice of you to offer though," you chuckled before leaning down and lightly pecking his lips.

It was such a heartbreak that there were so many people – and students! - around and you couldn't even kiss him properly to reassure him. Sebastian smiled at that, and with just one glance you knew he was thinking the same, and probably anticipating the night you promised him tonight.

"Alright, but next time he comes, let me serve him his coffee," he demanded, giving you his puppy eyes.

"What?" You squealed a little – that was just the way you talked when he looked at you like that, it was truly pathetic, ugh. "No, you'll scare him!" You argued, raising both your eyebrows.

"That's the whole point," he replied, this time pursing his lips a little bit. The bastard.

You cursed under your breath, biting on your lip and putting your hands on your hips.

"Stop looking at me like that- yes, wipe that lost puppy look off of your face!" You said when he had the audacity to look surprised as if he had no idea what you were talking about. "How do you even do that?" You shook your head again, this time in disbelief.

He, a grown ass man, with massive muscles and a beard and a shoulders so broad you couldn't encircle them with your arms, could pull off the cutest most adorable puppy face you have ever seen – and you had seen quite a fair share of them since that was the way most of your 'sick' students looked at you, in an attempt to tame you and let them go home and skip that math test they didn't study for.

"I don't know, genetics?" He shrugged, a little smirk lifting the right corner of his mouth.

He knew he won that battle, he always did. The puppy face was his last resort move. You didn't even have a last resort move! That was so unfair, you'd probably have to wear heels all the time to have something to use against him.

"Yes, fine! Do it, and I'll be the one sitting in the chair with a grumpy face," you eventually gave in and he beamed at that.

"Good, because he's coming this way."

He quickly got up and you traded places. You had to admit though, it was hilarious to see Robert's smile drop when he saw Sebastian standing behind the (way too small for him) booth, the coffee thermos already in hand, a stern and unamused frown on his face. If this look only didn't instil the fear of God in Robert's soul, than you didn't know what could accomplish that. His hand trembled when he handed Sebastian his empty cup, although he seemed to be upholding his gaze the best he could – he had some damn nerve, you had to give him that.

"Sugar?" Sebastian's low voice practically made the whole building shake.

Robert scoffed at that, as if it was offending – you hadn't bothered asking him before, the sugar was open on the table so he could very well take some if he wanted to.

"No, I'm no beginner," he said, sounding infuriatingly cocky. "I drink it black, like real men do," he felt the need to add.

"Like real men do ugh?" You suddenly interrupted their silent confrontation and rose from your seat. You couldn't simply stand back and watch that pitiful excuse of a man blurt out dumbass stuff like that and not say anything. "You know, in Turkey, there have a tradition," you started, grabbing a cup of coffee from the plastic bag at your feet and then taking the thermos from Sebastian's hands. Both men listened, curious to hear what you were about to say. "When the parents chose a husband for their daughter, they would invite him over, so the young girl could meet the man." You poured the coffee into the cup, Robert and Sebastian hanging at your every word. "And while the two young people are not allowed to be alone and talk, they came up with another way to communicate, you see." You grabbed a handful of sugar cubes in your hand, and looked straight at Sebastian, ignoring Robert, a tender smile adorning your lips. "The daughter was supposed to make coffee for everyone and if she liked the young man, she'd put an insane amount of sugar in his cup – the sweeter, the better," you continued as you began to drop one by one the sugar cubes in the cup you were holding. "And if she didn't, she didn't put sugar in it at all, leaving the coffee bitter. That's how the young man knew if he was liked or not, if he could hope for a happy marriage or not, therefore when the coffee was bitter, the man would most likely break off the engagement."

When you finished your little story, you handed the cup over to Sebastian, who's smile threatened to split his face in two. Robert was livid. The coffee must have been undrinkable with all that sugar but Sebastian downed it in one go anyway.

"In case you still don't get it, this is her way of telling to knock it off and stop pretending to want coffee and saying misogynistic things, because she's not interested," Sebastian told Robert, whose mouth was open like a dead fish's. "And next time you lurk around my girl like that, I'll be the one you'll have to deal. I'm not as polite as her."

Sebastian's arm wrapped protectively around your shoulders as if to show his point and it seemed to work wonders. Robert left,and in all the years you had worked here, and despite the fact that he was a PE teacher, you had never seen him run _this fast_.

"Where did you even learn that?" Sebastian asked, pulling you to his side, his left hand possessively gripping your hip.

You shrugged, "Heard it in a movie I watched last week. A Russel Crowe movie, I think it's called The Water Diviner or something; I fell asleep halfway through but I remembered that part, thought it was funny."

"It is indeed," he chuckled.

With your head resting against him, you heard his laughter rumbling in his chest. You liked how warm it was against you, as if the cool weather had no grip on him – he liked it too because that meant you clung to him whenever you were cold. Moments like those were best when you were alone, because then you would let your hands slip underneath his clothes instead of letting them rest over his shirt like right now, and he'd hum softly in your ear. You'd probably be all tangled up on the couch, paying no mind to the TV playing in the background. He'd kiss you, and you'd kiss him, and since neither of you ever felt like stopping, he'd end up carrying you to the bed – if you even made it there – and you'd carry on your activities.

He couldn't wait for the day to end, so he could finally bring you home and make sweet, sweet love to you.

000

How long was the honeymoon phase supposed to last? Now that a question no internet forum seemed to have the answer to, not even yahoo.

Yes, you loved Sebastian and he returned the feeling with as much intensity. Yes, you would love for this lightheadedness to last forever, but you were much too grounded to believe it will. As much as your affection for him was strong – to point where you'd most definitely be drawing little hearts with your initials inside if you were still _five_ – you have an uneasy feeling that this carelessness that characterized early relationships would soon come to an end.

You would soon be entering this phase of a relationship which turned your problems into his problems and _vice versa_. And tonight, you would be meeting with one of Seb's friends for the first time. He had already met your cousin and best friend a couple weeks ago, and he nailed it. You could tell from the glimmer in her eyes that she was mentally choosing the song for your first dance at your wedding, halfway through a conversation with Sebastian. Which you couldn't blame her for, he was just that appealing and gentle of a man – who were you to blame anyone? You were _dating_ the man, obviously you succumbed to his charm.

But meeting his friend, felt like a job-interview like kinda thing to you. It was just as stressful as that. What if he didn't like you, and told Sebastian to dump you the first chance he got? You knew he wouldn't listen, he wasn't that sort of person, but still, it'd be horrible to have one of your best friends disapproving of your lover.

"You realize I can see the tension in your shoulders from where I sit, right?" Sebastian said from the living room.

From his spot on the couch he could see you trying on about all of your jackets over your Halloween costume. Honestly, you had had a few second thoughts about your choice of costume, but you had planned to wear this for weeks now, and Sebastian's last minute idea to introduce your to his friend didn't leave you enough time to find something decent to wear, so yeah, you'll have to make it work.

"You don't even need a jacket, this is a private party, it's not like we'll be going from door to door in the cold of October," he told you, pointing his ax toward you.

In truth, you had given him the idea for his costume, just like he was the source of your inspiration. Your stomach still hurt from the uncontrollable fit of laughter he caused you when he came out of the bathroom an hour earlier, dressed from head to toe like a viking warrior. And here you were wondering why had he suddenly stopped grooming his beard! And the sheepish way he asked you "Can you braid my hair?" under his breath didn't exactly help you calm down.

"Okay, right. You're right," you sighed, throwing your fifth jacket on the bed, and just putting on that winter coat you always used to go to work. "I'm ready- wait!" You stepped out of your room, grabbing Seb's arm just when he thought you were done and about to leave. "What's his name again? I keep forgetting. It's the stress. I'm a ball of nerve," you rambled, looking at him with that exact same puppy look he used on you most of the time.

"Really? I couldn't tell," he snorted playfully. "It's Chris, and he'll love you. He loves everyone, he's the human form of sunshine, you'll see," he reassured you, leaning down to place a little kiss on your lips, making you relax a bit.

"Alright," you gave him a little smile to show him you were fine. "I trust you. Now let's go before I freak out again," you urged him. Sebastian didn't need to were a coat, he _literally_ wore animal fur on his back and a horned helmet – and you didn't dare ask him if it was real or fake, you just figured he asked his agent to find something realistic. "Are we going in taxi?" You inquired.

"Finding a taxi at Halloween in Manhattan? You're very funny sometimes (Y/N)," he laughed. "No, I asked to have a car for tonight, so we won't need a taxi, or a uber."

And indeed, there was a shiny and chrome black car with tainted windows waiting outside of your building, and suddenly, you felt extremely under-dressed and inappropriate. Although you did kind of feel like royalty when the driver came out and opened the door for you.

"Your majesty," Sebastian chuckled behind you, his breath tickling your ear and sending shivers down your back.

He gestured you to go in and gave you a hand to help you inside before following right after you. When the door closed and the car started, you felt a little less tense and you laced your fingers with Sebastian's, feeling better with that simple touch.

"I love you," you said, out of the blue.

It took him aback, but he didn't let it show and simply stole another kiss from you, ushering the words back in your ear. You snuggled closer to him and crossed your legs to keep yourself warm, causing your coat to slide down your thighs.

"Have I mentioned how much I love your costume?" He asked in a hushed groan, licking his lips and staring intently at you.

"Only about ten times within the last hour," you giggled, nuzzling against his neck and placing a trail of kisses there. "I chose it for you."

"I've got to be the luckiest man alive," he shook his head, as if not believing it. As if you were a fantasy and you were to disappear any moment.

"You're such a space nerd," you laughed, rolling your eyes at him.

Two months into your relationship, the first trailer of Star Wars: The Rogue One was released, and you were pretty sure he would have a stroke when it came up on the TV. Given his _enthusiastic_ reaction, you questioned him about it and he admitted being the biggest space nerd in the entire galaxy – to quote him – and that he always wanted to be an astronaut and go to the moon and stuff like that. He told you how excited he was the day his agent showed him the script of The Martian and how he jumped on the first plane to pass that audition. You knew just how serious he was when he pulled his phone out to show you all the pictures he took while visiting NASA's Johnson Space Center with the cast.

"We're here," he said, popping your little bubble of thoughts and making you come back to reality.

You climbed out of the car, already missing the soft and pillow-y real leather back seat. Sebastian offered you his arm, and you didn't dare thin too much of what you two looked like dressed like that. Luckily, you soon found that you were far from being the oddest couple. He didn't tell you exactly who was invited to that party, only that this Chris dude was the host and Sebastian really wanted you to meet him. You were five months into your relationship and he decided that he couldn't keep talking about you to his friends and not introducing you to them. When you arrived at the party, there was a man who offered to relieve you from your coats. A few other guests came up to you to say hi and you shook a few hands, side hugged a couple people and never once let go of Seb's arm, as if he was your life buoy and you'd drown if you let go. You were following his through the crowd of people when all of a sudden, he stopped in his track and you nearly crashed into him, gasping and regaining balance before your nose hit his back.

"Chris!" He cheered, momentarily letting go of your arm to hug his friend. You had never witness such a manly bro hug. They were both so burly and muscly that you felt blessed to assist to such a scene. "Good to see you man!"

"You too," the guy smiled. He had a beard too – although not as furnished as Viking Sebastian's one – and looked like a friendly lumberjack too. Where did this trend come from? "And I finally get to meet your lady," he said, reaching out to shake your hand. Luckily, the two neurons that seemed to be working in your brain managed to handle the situation and your hand raised to shake his. You were star struck, and possibly blushing wildly and screaming internally.

"H-hi," you squeaked out. You wanted to smash your head in the nearest wall for sounding like that, but you couldn't help it, you knew you were screwed when he turned to you and you recognized him. "It's nice to meet you," you croaked out, rather pitifully, but still. Your mother would be so proud.

"Seb here told me a lot about you, but he failed to mention how charming you were," he said, in that gentlemen-ish fashion you had always imagined characterized him.

Your eyes switched to your grinning boyfriend for a second – he looked so proud of himself for tricking you like this and you couldn't wait to wipe that cocky smile off of his face once you were alone with him.

"Yeah, he seems to forget to tell a lot of things ," you said, squinting your eyes at him. Chris laughed at that, most definitely realizing Seb hadn't told you who exactly he was.

"Well, I'll leave you two to take a look around while I greet my guests. Have fun!" He exclaimed, placing a friendly hand on Sebastian's shoulder before walking away.

As soon as he was out of your sight, you turned to you boyfriend, ready to burst out of your skin out of embarrassment, and your eyes threatening to pop out of their sockets as you looked at the smirking man by your side, an alarmed expression adorning your face.

"What the _hell_ , Sebastian?! You let me meet Captain America dressed like slave Princess Leïa, are you _crazy_?"


	4. Chapter 4

A month later, Sebastian had to leave again. This time it was for the promo of Civil War, the fan conventions and stuff like that. You understood, but you didn't look forward to seeing him go away again. Life was nice and soft with him around. It was domestic, and it brought a sense of security and warmness to your otherwise lonely and routine life. You wordlessly agreed to spend most of your time together at _your_ apartment, to avoid the paparazzi as best you could. Though the paparazzi weren't the center of your problem at all, far from it.

Here you sat in your kitchen, fiddling with your fork, counting your peas and letting your food get cold. Two weeks of him gone, and you didn't know what to do about your problem, you wished he was there. Sebastian would place himself behind you and engulf you in a bear hug of his. Then he would lean down and nuzzle his face in the crook of your neck, alternating between placing kisses in your neck and whispering sweet nothings in your ear all the while you told him about your issues and than he'd turn you around and give you a piece of advise before reminding you that he was there no matter what and that you could count on him if your problem didn't go away.

But Sebastian wasn't there, and you were alone to deal with it. You pondered the pros and cons of telling him the next time he called you, but you feared that it might anger him, or worry him more than necessary – the last thing you wanted was for him to leave in the middle of the promo of his upcoming movie to fly back to New York because of you. In two days, it would be your six months anniversary – not that you were one of these girls who kept track or celebrated all the anniversaries, you just noticed when you saw the date and realized you had been with him for half a year now. He must have forgotten, and you didn't care, it simply made you smile nostalgically when you recalled your first date with him.

Unlike Robert, he had showed up directly at your door, looking good and fresh – almost too good to be honest, you didn't expect him to look even better than the night at the bar, but it seemed like in sunlight he was twice as handsome as in a darkly lit room with faux red velvet walls. He looked nervous, which you found hilarious given the circumstances, because you were seconds away from having a stroke. But then he reached out to take your hand, and when you touched, you felt the tension leave your shoulders, and he visibly relaxed too. He didn't come with his car – who even used his care anymore in New York in the middle of the day apart from those going to work?

" _I didn't know what you liked so I figured I'd leave today free of any plans," he explained to you. "I considered taking you bowling, or to a museum, or even the movies, but then I realized I didn't even know if you enjoyed these things-" he continued, leading you away from your building, still holding your hand._

 _It felt rather nice to hold his hand. It was bigger than yours, a little calloused and a lot warmer than you had expected, but it didn't feel out of place at all – you enjoyed this contact. It wasn't like holding hands when you were teenagers, it wasn't shy and awkward, it was light and enjoyable._

" _-which made me think that I should get to know you first before taking you to an awkward date where you'd have to pretend to like, I don't know, Art Nouveau paintings?" He laughed heartily, a smile drawing on your face in answer to his joyful personality._

" _I love Art Nouveau! Gustav Klimt is one of my favorites," you said, making him smile even bigger._

" _See? Now I know something about you – I can take you to the Klimt exhibition that takes place next week," he cheekily told you, casually planning up ahead another date. Not that you minded the least bit – you would have been crazy to pass an opportunity to see this man again._

" _So where are we going then?" You asked him, realizing you were heading to central park. When you had settled a day for your date you had asked him what you should expect so you knew what to wear and he simply told you to wear something casual and flats. You would never admit it to him but it took you half the day to find what to wear and your entire wardrobe was scattered around your floor. Eventually you settled for flat sandals, and a sleeveless light green blouse which you tucked inside high-waisted knee-length pants. You didn't want to have a bag to carry around with you, so you left your phone home and simply tucked your keys in your back pocket and a few dollars inside your bra._

" _Nowhere in particular, just to the park," he informed you. "If you don't mind of course! I know it's a little simple for a date, but-"_

" _A walk in the park is great, don't worry," you laughed, easing his anxiousness._

 _He smiled, "I'll buy you an ice cream and we can sit by the lake and make fun of people who make boat tours and fall in the water," he suggested._

" _Agreed," you replied. "Can we walk by the zoo?" That must have sounded quite childish, but you loved going there, despite the insane amount of tourists and kids. It made him laugh._

" _Sure we can," he said just as you arrived to the park, spotting the first of many ice cream trucks. "What's your favorite ice cream flavor?" He asked._

" _Anything fruity," you said. "Surprise me!"_

 _He came back with a watermelon, kiwi, mango ice cream for you and that's about when you decided that he was the man of your life._

The memory had you smiling like a goof all over again, and you realized how much you missed him. You would do just about anything to be with him at this exact moment, and somehow you knew the feeling was shared, because Sebastian never forgot to call, never forgot to send you a pic when he was doing something that made him think of you, and deep down you also knew that the main reason behind your reluctance to tell him about your problems, was that you were certain that he'd drop everything to come back to you and help you deal with whatever was causing you trouble, even if the only thing he could do to help was to hold you in his arms for a while.

Your eyes drifted to your phone which was laying inches away from your plate on the table. It was turned off. Not because you didn't want to hear news from Seb – you craved those – but because of the other person calling you non stop since Sebastian left. With a sigh, you stood up, trashing the remains of your meal and stomping out of the kitchen, distancing yourself from your phone. You hopped on your bed – the desperately empty bed that didn't even smell like your boyfriend's distinctive cologne anymore – and opened your laptop, logging on skype and calling him. It took him a few minutes to answer, but his face finally popped in a new window on your scream.

"Hey love," he greeted you sleepily.

"Hi," you said in a gentle whisper, feeling bad for waking him up. "I'm sorry to call so early, I just needed to see you." It wasn't even five in the morning where he was. You sincerely hoped he didn't sense the tremor in your voice.

"Everything okay?" He asked a little louder as he got up, sitting on his bed. His brows knitted together in worry when he heard the tone of your voice. It was the same tone you had when you watched Inside Out with him and Bing Bong died.

"I miss you terribly. Next time you offer to take me with you when you leave, don't let me say no," you tried to joke, but it was pointless. By the way he looked at you, you knew that he could see right through your poor attempt at hiding your discomfort. "Sebastian-"

"I'll be back soon, I promise. Only a few more days and it'll be over," he reminded you. "I know this is tough and it takes a toll on me too, but please, don't look at me like that or I'll never be able to leave your side again," he told you with a tender smile. You sensed that he craved touching you as much as you did, and if he was there at this moment, he'd reach out and caress your cheek. "I love you."

The effect that such a simply sentence had on you was astounding. It brought warmth to your entire body yet you shivered and felt the sudden and desperate need to cry. Yes, the distance between you and the man you loved was taking its toll on you and you didn't like it at all, but you knew it was his life and you would deal with it, no matter what. The circumstances had simply changed a bit since last time, and in a moment of need, you found yourself alone in the big apple, wishing the most important person in your life wasn't somewhere across the country, so far away from you.

"(Y/N), are you okay? What's wrong?" He worried and you bit on your lower lip to make it stop quivering, and swallowed down your tears.

"Nothing, I'm fine," you did your best to make it sound believable. "I had a long week of work and I just watched The Lion King, you know I can't handle watching this movie," you forced a laughter out of your mouth and smiled despite feeling like utter shit. Sebastian needn't worry for you, he had to focus on his job, on the promo of Civil War. You didn't see it yet but you knew this movie would change his career, you had a feeling.

"You promise you're not hiding anything from me?" He asked.

You swallowed and looked down. As much as you wanted to spare him and deal with your issue alone, you strictly refused to lie to him. At least not when it touched important matters – a little white lie here and there to prevent him from worrying too much didn't hurt.

"Nothing that can't wait your return," you reassured him, shooting a gentle smile his way. Lucky for you, your camera was shit and you didn't need to put too much effort into that half-assed smile. "Again, I'm sorry for waking you up to early, I couldn't go on with my day without talking to you."

"I tried calling you last night but I got your voice mail," he replied, shrugging off your excuse. He wasn't much of a sleeper anyway, Sebastian was an early bird.

"I turned it off," you said. "I needed quiet."

"Alright, well I'm glad you skyped, I miss seeing your pretty face too. Chris says I'm whipped."

"Which Chris?" You asked, laughing genuinely this time.

"Both," he snickered. "And Scarlett and Anthony too – Anthony is the _worst_ , he makes little kissing noises whenever I'm nearby. Actually everyone is pretty much tired of hearing me say how much I miss my girl," he said. "Maybe they'll send me home early if I keep annoying them, whatcha think?"

"I say it's worth a shot," you smiled, bringing your knees up and looping your arms around them. You placed your chin atop your knees and looked at him. His hair was defying gravity, he seriously needed a shower and maybe a little grooming for his growing beard. Your hands itched you from not being able to run your fingers through his hair and make his man bun for him.

"You look sad," he pointed out. "What can I do?" Just by the way he asked the question, you knew that he was very aware of his powerlessness. He knew there wasn't anything he could do from where he was, but he wished he did, and he asked nonetheless. That alone made your heart melt.

"Of course I'm sad, Mufasa just died and the man I love isn't even there to cuddle with me," you replied. Again, it was a white lie meant to sooth his concern. It worked and that's when you decided it had to end. You'd betray yourself if you kept this conversation going.

"I love you too," Sebastian reminded you.

"I'll leave you to wake up properly – and shower maybe," you chuckled, earning a groan. "Love you. See you in five days."

He made you wait another couple minutes before letting you shut your laptop, telling you over again how much he missed you and that he would try and come back as soon as possible and then he'd watch The Lion King 2 with you. When you finally ended the skype call, you let yourself fall on the bed, sheets still in place, clothes still on and you cried yourself to sleep in the middle of a Saturday afternoon.

000

It was with your stomach upside down and a knot twisting your insides that you returned to work Monday morning, trying to pull off feeling fine and being fresh and ready for this new week. Needless to say that you struggled – but lucky for you, you were better at hiding what you thought from your co-workers than you were with Sebastian, who could read right through your forced smiles and joyless laughter. A sigh of relief immediately fell from your lips when you closed the door to your office and welcomed the quietness of the infirmary a Monday morning, when most students still tried to make it through the day and didn't try and ditch school yet.

You were in an unusual state of jumpiness since three weeks ago when all of this started. Unbeknownst to you, it began to invade your life, taking over every aspect of your routine. When your phone buzzed, you gasped in surprise, when a student knocked on the door, you dropped your pen and when the bell rang, you nearly had a heart attack. It was all getting out of hand, and you wanted nothing more than to lock your door and sit down to cry for a while, maybe even until someone became worried and tried to kick in the door. Three days. Only three more days, and Sebastian would be back. You had to convince yourself that you could do it!

After all, you were an adult. A grown, independent woman who could handle herself – which doesn't mean that you _wanted_ to handle everything on your own – and a few more days without having your boyfriend around wouldn't kill you.

Another tremor had you letting go of your pen, and you sighed, rubbing your face with both hands in order to wake you up. Your face felt like paper to you, it felt dry and tired – possibly so because you had trouble sleeping these days – and you'd bet you looked like a mummy. The girl who came in this morning because she cut her thumb open gave you a weird look that you weren't quite over yet. It felt like eighth grade when you had braces all over again.

A knock on the door. Your heart beats significantly sped up as you gulped down and swiftly bend down to pick up your pen before telling them to come in. Air was knocked out of your lungs when you saw a man's hand slip inside to open your door. It was only when you saw 's kind face that you relaxed and realized just how terrified you were every time this same door opened.

"Oh, hello," you greeted him, feeling better to see a familiar face. He was the History teacher, an aging man always making sure nobody felt forgotten. "What can I do for you?"

"Hello (Y/N)," he smiled, wrinkles appeared at the corner of his eyes and his gray mustache twitching upwards along with his lips. "You don't seem too busy, I hope I'm not interrupting anything," he said, always the polite gentleman.

"Monday is not the busiest of days for me," you said, smiling and gathering your papers in front of you.

"Good, good," he said. His hand went up to fiddle with his mustache. "As you know we have a new recruit today," he started, referring to the new art teacher who replaced the former, very pregnant . "Like always, we'd like to have a little gathering to welcome her in our school and I was hoping you would join us," he finished.

You blinked a couple times. This was the first time you were invited to this kind of parties – you knew they occurred but you never felt like it was your place to go since you weren't a teacher and only worked here part time, when you weren't at the hospital.

"I- euh-" you mumbled, not knowing what to say. "When is it? I'll have to see if I'm free," you asked him, allowing you a little more time to think about it. _He_ would be there.

"Next week," answered, letting go of his perfectly groomed mustache. "We'll be having coffee at the usual place. You know where it is?"

"Yes, I know," you nodded, although you had no idea. You had decided you wouldn't go. "I- I'll discuss this with my boyfriend. He's coming back from a three-weeks work thing and he'll probably want to catch up," you declared, trying to hint that you wouldn't come.

"Oh," pouted. "Well, I'm happy for you. If you decide to drop by, it's at five, right after class on Friday," he informed you.

After a few more minutes of small talk and polite questions about your life and how you were doing, he left with a nod and gently closed your door, leaving you once again alone. You stood up and started browsing through your files, searching for a student's file in particular when suddenly the door opened again.

"Did you forget someth-" you started, expecting to be back, maybe to tell you something he forgot to mention. But it wasn't who stood in your door frame when you turned around.

"(Y/N)," Robert said, closing the door behind him as he steps inside your office without being invited to do so. "It's nice to see you."

You didn't say anything and simply looked at him, not knowing what to expect from the man.

"If I didn't know you, I'd say you're avoiding me," he laughed in a way you could only describe as threatening and incredibly inappropriate. You figured you would be left alone during work, but once again you were prove wrong. "How have you been? Haven't you gotten my texts?"

And his _calls_ , and his _voice mails_ , and his constant _harassing_! You thought.

"My phone died. I had to get a new one," you lied, hoping that he would simply stop trying to reach you through your phone if he thought you changed your number. Which you would eventually have to do in case he did _not_ stop.

"That sucks," he commented, his hands in his pockets while walking around your office, detailing everything. "What happened?"

"It fell in the water," you shrugged. Your tone was about as harsh as it could get but you couldn't prevent the tremor in voice from happening.

"You know if you put it in a bag of rice it'll dr-"

"Too late, I threw it away," you brushed him off, trying to put an end to this exchange as fast as you could without angering him too much. You stood behind your desk, the tip on your fingers resting on your desk to give you balance. You quivered in your boots.

"Ah," he said, bringing his lips in a thin, horizontal line, as if he was displeased with what you just told him. "Well, never mind," he suddenly brightened up. "I left you a message, asking if you wanted to come with me to the movies tomorrow night, then we coul-"

"No, Robert," you said bravely, holding up his gaze even though you were about to burst out of your skin. You felt your face become redder and hotter by the second, and your palm sweaty and fidgetty. He looked pissed and you were alone in a room with him. You forced yourself to breath normally and calm down. You were at your workplace, he wouldn't do anything here, would he?

"No?" He repeated, his voice lower than before. He stepped closer to you, invading your personal space. "You know, our little game is getting boring. Why are you still pushing me away?" He frowned, as if sincerely confused by the mixed signals he though you were sending him.

"Miss (Y/L/N)!" Someone burst into your office at this exact moment. Two students entered, one of them bleeding from his forehead.

"Oh God!" You exclaimed, rushing past Robert to tend to the hurt kid. "What happened?"

"He tripped while doing an experiment in chemistry and he fell on a shred of glass!" The other student rambled at a fast pace, looking panicked and about to pass out.

The hurt one seem oddly more calm and you mentally thanked them for their timing, despite feeling a little bad about being happy that a student fell on a piece of cutting glass. Robert seemed to understand that this was his cue and he left, only saying a little "I'll leave you to work Miss (Y/N)," before exiting the office, leaving you to patch up the poor kid and his gash on the forehead. At least, he'll have a cool scar, and you'd also let him go home a few days to thank him for cutting short your conversation with Robert and his pervert attitude.

Shortly after the parents of your wounded student came to pick him up, you went out to grab something to eat, settling on a pasta box instead of going to the school's restaurant where all the staff ate every day. The urge to cry was still present, but once again you swallowed back your tears and convinced yourself that it was unprofessional and that you over-reacted. Maybe it wasn't even half as terrible as you made it sound? Maybe you were seeing things and Robert was just being an overly needy friend? Maybe he was just as alone as that?

Or maybe you weren't over-reacting, and he was really the pretentious creep who tried to get into your pants even though he knew you were happily taken and not interested in him. Maybe he was dangerous, and the only way for you to cope with the current situation was to pretend that it wasn't as serious as it was. Now you were just over-thinking it.

The rest of the day went by quickly, and no more incidents occurred – whether it was student related or anything else. Went the clock indicated five, you loudly closed the file you were filling in and gathered your things, eager to go home and leave before everyone else, so you wouldn't have to see anyone at the backdoor. Most teachers stayed a few more minutes to chat a bit and smoke a cigarette before heading home. You rushed out, purse in one hand, coat hand close with the other. When you stepped out, it was like a tornado out there. It rained to hard you couldn't even hear the usual noise of the city – the car, the honks, the people talking on the phone – and the wind made it impossible to open your umbrella without upturning it and you gave up after trying three times.

You cursed yourself for wearing heels today – boots, but heels nonetheless. And you started stomping on the sidewalk, as fast as your impractical shoes allowed you to and still firmly held your coat close while protecting your precious purse from the rain.

An awfully familiar shiver ran down your spine, making you freeze on the spot regardless of the downpour. You felt him. His eyes were on you, you'd bet your life on it. But when you peeked over your shoulder you saw nothing but the empty sidewalk and a homeless person sitting under a porch. You resumed your walk, and only a block down the street, you felt it again, and this time you gave frenetic looks around you, when suddenly you saw him.

Or more specifically, his car. He was following you _in his car._ That was downright the most frightening thing that ever happened to you, and your blood ran cold in your veins, leaving you prostrate and dry-mouthed. Such fear was unknown to you, and before you could gather your wits, you started running. Heels or not heels, this was a 'run for your life' situation, and the adrenaline pumping through your veins made your forget the pain, and suddenly you turned in a small alley, and then turned again, taking those shady little streets you avoided _at all costs_ any other day, to get to your apartment faster. And the relief you felt when you saw your door was such that you started crying, though the rain hid the treacherous tears.

You hated that feeling for weakness that overwhelmed you when you spotted his car. Furthermore, you hated how belittled you felt in his presence. You hated that he was a man, and he was tall and stronger than you, and that you would have to tell Sebastian because you were scared and didn't know who else to turn to.

When you ran inside your apartment, the sudden quietness and warmth took you aback, as if you had started to get used to being in a constant state of uncertainty and always on your guard. You shut the door and let your purse fall to the floor, along with your drenched coat and you could care less about putting water everywhere. The tear kept streaming down your cheeks, and you felt like a thousand bricks weighted on your shoulders. Your chest rose up and down unevenly and your breath caught in your throat. How miserable you must look!

"(Y/N)?" Someone called from the other end of your apartment.

You stood in your doorway, hands running over your face and through your wet hair, eyes haphazardly looking around for some sort of weapon, anything to defend yourself. You felt your heart clutch and shrink at the though that he might have gotten here before you and was waiting for you in your room or something equally as terrifying and disturbing.

You still hadn't found anything to grab when a moving form caught your eye and you jumped backward, your back slamming against the closed door in fear.

"(Y/N)," the man repeated, and you visibly relaxed when you saw Sebastian standing there. He looked like he just arrived – his shoes were still on – and he wore a beaming smile until his eyes settles on you, shrunken in fear, looking scared beyond words, crying silently. "Oh my God, (Y/N)," he said, running to you as you did the same.

When your bodies collided in the middle of your living room, you felt the air coming back to your lungs. He didn't care that you were drenched to the bone, he didn't care about the cold or the water, Sebastian only wanted to know what caused you to be in such a frenzy.

"What happened?" He asked. "No, you don't have to tell me right now. It's alright. I'm here, it's alright," he started ushering in your ear as you kept on wetting his shirt with rain and tears. "Please tell me you're not hurt. Please, (Y/N), tell me you're fine," he pleaded you when he pulled back and met your tear-filled eyes.

"I'm fine," you breathed out. "I'm fine, Sebastian," you nodded, smiling despite all the tears and your troubled vision. "I'm so happy to see you, _so_ happy..." you rambled, shaking your head in disbelief, your hands gripping at his shirt as if you were scared he'd disappear if you let go.

"I came home early, I thought I might surprise you and-" he stopped. "God, (Y/N), I knew something was wrong but if I knew-" he paused again, looking hurt and concerned but most importantly, glad to see you and to know you were alright. "God, (Y/N)," he repeated. "You had me seriously worried for a second, please tell me what's going on. If there's anything I can do- wait we'll get you dry clothes first, or maybe a hot shower, yeah? Sounds good? You can tell me everything while I take care of you."

Sebastian kept on rambling about how glad he was to see you and how he'd make coffee for both of you after your shower and then he'd cuddle the shit out of you until you felt better. And you let him do, because you were too exhausted, emotionally and physically, to say or do anything right now.


	5. Chapter 5

The week following Sebastian's return was a breath of fresh air in comparison the the previous weeks. After you had told him everything, he became angry – _very_ angry. He was in a state of fury you had never imagined he was capable of, your warm, kind Sebastian. But discovering that your boyfriend had a temper wasn't half as worrying than one singe 'hi' from your persecutor. Having a man raise his voice was always a sounding alarm in any woman's head, but you knew Sebastian's yells weren't directed toward you, they were meant for Robert, and weren't it for you standing between Seb and the door, he would have stormed right out and hunted him down. Thankfully a few gentle reminders that neither of you knew where he lived, added to the fact that you really needed him here right now was enough to calm him down.

"He-" Sebastian started but he bit his lip, obviously not finding anything harsh enough to say. "That hideous bastard, he's-" Still not finding anything, he closed his mouth, his lips drawing a thin, straight line. He eventually settled on, "This is serious, (Y/N)."

"I know," you said, rubbing your face with both hands. That hot shower's soothing effects were slowly fading away. "I don't know what to do, but please, _please_ -" you started, "Just be with me right now, hold me and make me forget."

His tensed shoulders and maddened expression softened at your words, as if he only just realized that you were the victim in all this and he was behaving like a testosterone-filled brute caught up in his own anger, when he should be worrying about how _you_ felt. The way you looked at him with such desperation and held-back tears in your eyes gave him murder desires though.

"Oh, love," he said, holding out his arms for you to cradle in, which you did.

You were clad in Seb's shirt that he laid out on the bed for you while you were in the bathroom, washing away your earlier scare. He knew that you liked that – the teenage girl trapped inside you urged you to steal your boyfriend's clothes and bury your nose in it – and who was he to deny you this pleasure? Especially since he liked seeing you wearing his shirts, even more so when you only wore those, it awoke a primal need within him, like he had to mark his territory or something equally as macho.

He was holding you so tight that there wasn't even enough room to allow a speck of dust to fly between the two of you. Your chest was pressed up flat against his, his hands nestled in the small of your back, slowly rubbing up and down to bring you the comfort you needed so desperately.

"I can't believe this happened to you," he uttered in your ear after a while, but still not letting go of you.

Your hands gripped the back of his shirt and your face was buried in his neck. If you were to answer him, it would only result in a muffled sound, therefore you kept quiet and let him speak. You knew he felt guilty, and there wasn't a thing in the world you could do to appease him.

"I should have been here, I should have been with you and not attending some stupid convention across the country, answering the same damn questions all the time! (Y/N), you're more important to me than any job could ever be."

Still you didn't answer and simply hugged him tighter, showing him you were here and you heard him and there wasn't a thing in this world that could make you let go of him.

"If anything like this happens again – _no matter the circumstances or the severity_ ," he emphasized the second part, "Let me know. Let me know and I'll fly right back to you, regardless of where I am."

"Okay," you whispered against his neck.

"I'm being serious, (Y/N)," he said, pulling a bit away to have a better look at your face. Your eyes were a bit red and puffy from the earlier crying but they were dry and you wore a smile. This sight made him crack a smile and Sebastian cupped your face, softly stroking your cheek with his thumb."I love you. I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you while I was gone." You leaned into his touch and his pressed a kiss to your forehead, letting you know he meant every word.

"I honestly thought I could handle it. I wanted to call you but I thought I was exaggerating and I-I didn't want to be the reason for you to cut short the promo of such a huge movie!" You admitted, feeling a weigh lift off of your shoulders when the words tumbled down your tongue. The stern glare her gave you in answer to your sheepish confession spoke for itself. "I promise I'll tell you everything."

"Hey, hey..." Sebastian soothingly whispered, as if afraid to startle you if he spoke too loud. "I'm not scolding you, (Y/N), and I'm not demanding you tell me every single thing in your life. I get that you keep things for yourself, we're both in our early thirties, we've lived almost half a life before even meeting each other. It's normal that we have baggage and stuff we'd rather not talk about, but this is happening now, and it affects you in as bad a way it possibly could. Shit, you're still shaking!"

"I know, I'm-" you bit your lip, trying to collect yourself and stop your entire body from trembling like a leaf. "I'm sorry, I can't help it, you can't even begin to fathom how happy I am so have you here, I feel so _relieved_... I hate that I feel unsafe when you're away, I hate to rely on someone else, but it feels _so_ incredibly good not to be alone."

A low chuckled fell from Sebastian's lips, and you felt his chest rumble from the short but heart-warming laughter.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I kinda like that you need me – I feel useful," he replied in a playful tone.

His attempt at calming you down worked and you breathed deeply before pulling away just enough to have a full view of him. A tender smile adorned his lips – his sinfully pink and beckoning lips that you sometimes sill caught yourself staring at – and he looked terribly exhausted. For a split second you wondered how miserable you both looked. Sebastian was jet lagged and the bags under his usually cheerful and mischievous blue eyes were proof of it, while your face held the stigma of a good fortnight worth of barely sleeping at night and being caffeine drugged most of the time you spent awake.

"This apartment is only five hundred square feet, it should feel cramped for two people, yet when you're not here it seems bigger than a house to me."

"Come live with me."

As soon as the words were out there, a long, awkward silence took over the conversation, and you stared a your boyfriend, dumbfounded and not sure you didn't just hallucinate what you thought you heard.

"I'm sorry, _what_?" That was the best you could do at the moment – which was already a rather huge accomplishment since you were two seconds away from falling asleep while still standing.

"Move in with me," Sebastian repeated slowly, as if it would make it easier for your brain to process the information this way.

You wanted to laugh, cry and scream at the same time. And like every time you wanted to do too many things at a time, you simply did _none_ , instead deciding to keep quiet and hope that your slow functioning neurones would start working before it starts getting too tense. As things happened to work lately, it didn't go the way you wished and you bit your lower lip, having no clue what to say to Sebastian who was awaiting an answer. After a while you wondered if he had stopped breathing because you couldn't remember ever hearing a silence as deep as this one.

"(Y/N)?" He asked carefully. "I didn't- I mean, you don't.. _have_ to. It was just an idea, you ca-"

"Why are you asking me this now?" You cut him off, magically recovering your voice.

"Next week, it'll be seven months," he simply said. When you gave him a confused look, he added, "since we started dating. Don't you keep track?" He then wondered.

You giggled nervously, "Others, more urgent things, were on my mind." You raised an eyebrow at him and he rolled his eyes. "But yeah, I kinda keep track. I don't count the days though, I just notice the date. Why is it important anyway?"

"We are officially my longest relationship since I was.. I don't know, twenty-seven maybe? And I know I'm not always here, and you have to deal with a lot of bad stuff like the press and the paparazzi and also, the constant change in appearance on my part, but I want you to know that I take this seriously. I take us seriously. I've been hanging around at your apartment for months, whenever I'm not filming or promoting, I'm here, but like you said, this isn't very spacious, and you don't feel safe in your own place anymore because of that pervert. So why not come live with me? I have enough room for us both – actually I not only have enough room for us but also your entire family if you feel like bringing them along," he laughed, even managing to bring a sincere smile on your face. "No matter how many siblings or long lost cousins you have."

"Actually I'm an only child, and my only aunt is a lesbian so no cousins either," you shrugged, enjoying his stunned expression.

"How come I didn't know that?" He inquired.

"You never asked," you replied, nudging him gently and taking his hand to lead him to your bedroom. "Do _you_ have siblings?"

"Two half sisters," he said proudly. "Much younger than me though. I'd already moved to the US when they were born, I was nine and ten."

"They're not born in Romania?" You asked.

He shook his head no and obediently followed your every step until you reach your room at the end of the corridor. He closed the door behind him and watched you turn around to face him, the back of your legs brushing against the bed. The sheets were all tangled up because you never made the bed in the morning, arguing that it was pointless since you'd sleep in it again every night. That might just change.

"Alright, I'll live with you," you declared, earning an ear-to-ear grin that threatened to split his face in two and a downpour of kisses all over your face.

His hands grabbed your face and you felt him turn around and push you up against the nearest wall, completely ignoring the empty bed a few feet away. You gasped when Sebastian nuzzled you and began to nip and kiss and bite lightly on a particularly sensitive spot.

"I'm not- selling this place- though," you forced yourself to articulated despite having a dangerously attractive man attacking you with kisses and possibly trying to _devour_ you. "It's still- my home," you told him, breathing heavily while his hands worked their way under your shirt and up your body to feel you up and at this precise moment, you were glad you didn't bother put your bra back on when coming out of the shower earlier that evening.

"Sure," he groaned in answer to your attempt and keeping the conversation going, though he wasn't making it easy for you.

How could you focus on futile things like _speaking_ when this walking talking dream of a man was trying to ravish you against a wall? Honestly there were times you wondered if he was real or if Sebastian was simply a figment of your overflowing imagination. Although your doubts were quickly pushed to the back of your mind whenever he took off his shirt – like at this exact moment, praise the lord – because there was no way in heaven or hell that you could make up a chest like _this_. Sometimes you wondered if it made him uncomfortable that you ogled him, but he never said anything, instead shooting you that shit-eating grin you knew so well. His entire upper-body was a dream, and even after almost seven months of seeing him naked regularly, you hadn't gotten used to his strong forearms (you really do have a problem with forearms), and that was without mentioning his thighs – God, those would be the end of you.

"Wait, wait!" You pulled away to recover your breath and look at him. " _What_ changes in appearance?" You frowned.

000

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Sebastian asked for what felt like the hundredth time today.

It was your first day back to work with Robert since Seb came back. The rest of the time was rather quiet when you worked at the hospital, and having your boyfriend back by your side helped a lot, but it didn't make today any less dreadful. The only kind of solace you found was the fact that your time as school nurse only took a few hours a week, and wasn't full-time.

"I have to be," you said. "It's not like we're in College and you're asking me to skip class and go run errands with you, this is my _job_. It pays the bills."

He took a step back crossing his arms on his chest and giving you an unimpressed look. The flexing muscles of his arms were distracting you a bit, your eyes quickly switched back to his face, although it was too late to hide the faint blush on your cheeks.

"Don't give me that look, it's a perfectly legitimate reason! I can't ditch, Sebastian. I'm a grown up and I have to work to earn money and not starve."

"I wouldn't let you starve," he replied. "I'd buy you ice cream."

"I know, but you're not my sugar daddy," you answered, crossing your arms too, to mirror his position. Given that you were significantly less tall than your massive, bulky boyfriend, this wasn't half as impressive as you wished it was. The mischievous smirk stretching his lips wasn't good news.

"I'll be your daddy anytime, (Y/N)," he said, his voice low and teasing. No matter how hard you tried to remain serious, you simply couldn't keep a straight face after hearing that and soon cracked a smile.

"You'll end up making me late," you chuckled, walking past him and grabbing your purse on the floor. If you didn't leave soon, you'd end up stuck in the traffic and then you would arrive much later than you should – the last thing you wanted was to stay longer at work tonight.

"At least let me drive you there."

"C'mon, I'm already driving to work rather than walking, and now you want to hold my hand all the way there?"

"What's wrong with that? I'd rather have you arriving safe."

"Robert doesn't know where you live, Seb. I'm safe. But if it puts your mind at ease, I guess you can give me a ride," you conceded, leaning up to give him a kiss.

" _We_ ," he corrected you. "Where we live. I'll grab my keys."

You smiled at that and urged him to hurry up so you would make it in time. The ride was overall silent. It was early, and the sun wasn't up yet – the best time of the day according to you – and thankfully you managed to arrived to your destination before the morning rush. Sebastian's hand rested on your thigh, and his reassuring presence brought you more comfort than you would care to admit. Your breath caught in your throat and your palms were sweaty the closer the car got to the school, but you tried to stay collected and appear confident, not matter how freaked out you were on the inside. When he parked in front of the gates, Sebastian turned to face you.

"Listen, if anything, _anything_ happens at all, you call me right away and I'll be here kicking his ass before you even hang up the phone," he promised you. His tone was light and playful but his eyes gave away how serious he was.

The words truly missed to say how grateful you were, but you also had no intention of calling him, because you were a twenty-nine year old woman who would be professional and suck it up and handle the situation like a mature person, all on your own.

"What do you have planned today?" You changed the subject, enjoying a few more minutes with Sebastian.

"I'll meet Chris at the gym later and go to lunch with him and his girlfriend," he told you. "It's been a while since I last third wheeled."

This made you laugh. He answered you with a smile that reached his eyes, causing small wrinkles to appear at the corner of his eyes. One of yours hands shot up to cup Sebastian's cheek, running your thumb over his recently shaved beard. It was still rough and coarse, which you loved. He grinned and leaned forward to capture your lips in a lingering kiss, making it deeper than appropriate, especially outside of your workplace, but you honestly couldn't give less of a damn.

000

Your day of work turned out being strangely calm and uneventful – though you still jumped off your chair every time someone so much as gently knocked on your door. For a brief second you wondered if being constantly on edge would start giving you gray hair and age prematurely. came back to tell you how they missed you at the integration party for the new teacher – whose name you had forgotten by now.

Sebastian called you every two hours, even in the middle of his workout session – you could hear his labored breath – to make sure you were fine and before you knew it, it was the end of the day and nothing had happened at all. As usual you gathered all of your stuff, quickly put on your coat and dashed out of your office after closing behind you, minute before the five pm alarm rang and the rest of the staff left. The very moment you stepped out the this doomed building, you felt better. And when you spotted Sebastian standing at the far end of the street, leaned against his car, your heart fluttered as if it was trying to fly right out of your chest. He too saw you and immediately began to jog to meet you in front of the gates.

"Hey there," he greeted you with a kiss. "Lookin' good."

"Same as you," you replied.

As silly as it sounds, your first instinct when you saw Sebastian was to put your hands on him – that's how good he looked all of the time. The way his clothes stretched over his muscle was somewhere between obscene and delightful.

"Why are you looking at me like I'm a pastry of some sort?" He questioned, not trying to hide the fact that he very much appreciated being ogled by you.

"Because you are, of course," you said, shrugging and smiling. "But let's be serious for a sec," you cut him short when he opened his mouth to answer, already smirking. "You cannot bring me to work and pick me up every day, that's- that's insane!"

His smirk vanished the moment the words left your mouth.

"(Y/N), we've been over this," he sighed tiredly. "Your safety is more important than anything. Until we find a solution, I'll hold your hand wherever you go. We're not arguing over this."

"Oh but I think we are, Seb," you answered a bit more harshly this time. If there was one thing you despise more than anything, it was being ordered around – when you were anywhere but in the bedroom that is. "It's not a good way to deal with this. I should talk to someone, get him fired."

"If you do this he'll start stalking you in the streets or worse, at home!"

"He doesn't know where we live!"

"But he can find out!" Sebastian almost shouted at you in the middle of the street.

Suddenly you heard the bell ring and you knew a flow of students was bound to rush out of the gate any minute.

"Please, let's go home," you told him. "I don't like arguing with you," you said, your tone settling to a much lower volume.

"What do we have here?" A voice asked from behind you. You didn't budge, knowing all too well whose voice it was without having to turn around. You watched Sebastian's gaze look over your shoulder and fix on something else, darkening the moment he recognized him. "Having an argy-bargy with your toyboy?" Robert asked.

You still couldn't find enough courage to turn around and meet his gaze – which you could totally feel on you like you had a target drawn on your back. He sounded overly confident and way too self-assured given that he was about as thick as you and looked like a toothpick in comparison to Sebastian's bulky stature. That said, it made you wonder what on earth gave him the balls to go upfront like he did and openly call him a toyboy, right to his face. Was he that unpredictable as to go to such length as defy Sebastian publicly?

What was predictable though, was Sebastian walking past you, heading for Robert, and throwing him an uppercut, knocking him out cold.


	6. Chapter 6

"I don't know if you noticed, but I usually go for the bad boys, that's just the kinda guys I'm attracted to," you started, already feeling cliché and stupid before even entering the main subject.

"I'm a bad boy?" Sebastian asked, his brows suddenly shooting up in surprise.

"Who said I was talking about you?" You teased him. His smile fell and you immediately laughed and took his chin between your fingers, pulling him down a bit to place a quick kiss on his mouth, making him relax. "I'm kidding, of fucking course I am. Although no, you're not really a bad boy, you're quite the opposite actually, _but_ you have the looks of it and that's enough for me. The 'mysterious guy clad in dark clothes sitting alone at a bar and drinking a beer' worked pretty well, huh?" You grinned widely, wiggling your eyebrows and laughing lightly, not wanting to draw attention to you. For once, nobody seemed to have recognized Sebastian and you wouldn't want to ruin that.

"And I'm forever thankful for that."

"But punching a man in the middle of the street is overstepping your boundaries," you pointed out, making a little head movement toward the police station across from the street.

You spent the last two hours trying to explain why your boyfriend knocked out one of your coworkers on your work place and in front of hundreds of students at that. It easily made it to the top five longest, awkwardest moments of your life. When you woke up this morning, you were far from expecting it to end this way.

"It felt so good though," Sebastian grunted, throwing his head back and closing his eyes as if replaying the scene in his mind.

"God, _yes_ ," you agreed. "I don't think anyone's ever punched someone for me before." Your expression became thoughtful and you bit down on your lip. "Please, don't make a habit out of it, although I gotta admit it was ridiculously hot and I enjoyed very much seeing him with a black eye."

Seb cackled at that, again throwing his head back and rubbing his hands over his face in an attempt to conceal his laughter and not draw too much attention to you. Your eyes darted around but it seemed that no one had noticed your loud chatter and you finished your last piece of pie. The tension of the day was slowly leaving your shoulders and you felt the urge to stretch but your parents taught you it was rude to do in public. You couldn't wait to go home!

"I'm not making any promises," Sebastian chuckled, raising his hands. He pushed his hair back and sighed blissfully, as if it was the conclusion of a long but satisfying day. Wrinkles appeared at the corner of his eyes, his entire face beaming. At this sight your heart turned into marshmallow. God, you loved the man.

"Thank you," you blurted out, surprising him. A tender smile quickly replaced his amused grin.

"For what, love? I should be apologizing, we've spent the entire evening at the police station because of me."

"For defending me. Making me feel safe. For being so effortlessly impressive with all your muscles and scaring away the creeps in my life," you rambled. "I can go on," you told him, your nose scrunching up as you laughed.

His demeanor turned into a more humble and shy one. If you didn't know him you would probably laugh at his sudden awkwardness. Sebastian was never one to welcome compliments – he usually brushed them off with a shrug or answered with a sneaky, teasing comment to avoid having to respond directly – but you couldn't help praising him every once in a while.

Honestly, it was still difficult for you to keep a straight face and not ogle him shamelessly every time he looked away. It was exactly like having a high school crush on the quarterback, expect that in this story, he wasn't dating the hot cheerleader, but you. So it was no wonder that you sometimes needed a moment to realize that it was actually happening.

"You're giving me too much credit," Sebastian shook his head, not meeting your gaze directly.

"And you're too harsh on yourself, but you already know that," you replied.

No one was harsher on him than himself. You once read aloud a review for one of his performances, but he snickered and simply told you that he acting was much worse than what the review says and that he would rather this movie disappears because he sucked back then. To which you answered by smacking him upside the head and telling him to take back what he just said about The Covenant because you loved that movie to pieces.

"It was ten years ago, and I sucked (Y/N)," he had repeated, provoking you.

He had jumped back when you tried to smack him again and for the following five minutes you had chased him around your living room, yelling 'take it back, take it back!'.

The memory had you grinning like a mad woman and Sebastian's eyebrows rose up as he wondered what the hell you could be thinking about. You brought your foot against his ankle and started trailing it up and down his leg. Sebastian froze and stiffened on his chair.

"(Y/N)..." he trailed, closing his eyes, his jaw clenching.

"Mhmm?" You hummed, not tearing your eyes away from him.

"Not here."

"Why?" You asked. All this action and testosterone had you a little turned on, which, you thought, was halfway between inappropriate and exciting. "It's late, we'll soon be alone in the restaurant."

"You're not... suggesting what I think you are..?" Sebastian hesitated. When you brushed back your hair and gave him a very naughty look, he knew he had his answer. "Here?"

"Unless you don't want to," you said, withdrawing your foot. You were wearing your favorite pair of heels and you knew you had him at your mercy.

"Hell if I don't want to!" He said, throwing a the money for dinner on the table and standing up in all his lumperjackish glory.

From the moment he put this flannel on this morning, you knew you would rip it off of him at some point during the day. Whenever he went along with the role of the sexy mountain recluse, you felt the need to face palm yourself for ever telling him about that kink of yours. At the same time, the simple sight of this shirt struggling over his chest gave you unholy thought that would make your mama blush, and you praised yourself for encouraging him in this fashion choices.

Sebastian, as if reading your mind, gave you bedroom eyes and you gladly grabbed the hand he offered you, following him to the back of the restaurant.

000

To say that you lived happily ever after would be an enormous lie, but you really were happy. First in this blissful, almost naive way – especially after that glorious punch in Robert's jaw. Then, in a more tranquil and thankful fashion, you were simply savoring your current state of happy, light life by Sebastian's side.

After the incident outside of the school, you simply went back the next morning to give your resignation, a huge smile on your face. Robert tried to sue Sebastian for striking him, but apart from the fact that being a rich and famous actor gave Seb a significant advantage in the choice of a good lawyer who ate the straight-outta-school beginner lawyer Bob could afford, you also decided to sue him for harassment in the street and sexual harassment at the workplace – which was extremely problematic to say the least, when your work place was a high school full of young, preppy girls in short skirts.

As much as you would have liked witnessing his demise, you cut Robert out of your life and focused on building your own with Sebastian. You stilled worked part time at the hospital, and they probably would have hired you for a full-time job if you asked but as it turned out, you enjoyed having only three days of work per week. To maintain a decent life and not spend Sebastian's money, you decided to rent your now empty apartment. As you expected, a nice little apartment entirely furnished and in a decent building in New York City quickly drew the attention of young couples looking for a neat first flat to share.

It paid surprisingly well to rent a flat and soon, you decided to quit your job at the hospital too. Sometimes you went back to do shifts for former colleagues, but most of the time you followed Sebastian on his sets and gave a hand to the medical unit when a stunt double hurt themselves or anything really. You tried to be helpful and not just stand aside and watch everyone else work.

"Hey, love," you heard Sebastian purr from behind you.

You spun on your heels, a box with a tone of food in it for the buffet on set was nestled in your arms. You gave him a glare and walked around him to put the box down on the table with all the others.

"Don't tell me you're still mad because I cut my hair off," he said, crossing his arms over his chest and giving you a roll of the eye.

For his upcoming movie, The Bronze, Seb had to loose the extra muscle weight he gained for Civil War, cut his hair short again and shave. Your entire fantasy was thrown to the trash and it's been two days that you mourned the loss of your bulky, tough soldier. And for him, it was two days during which you barely said a word to him.

"(Y/N), please. I can't take it anymore, talk to me!" He bagged you.

"I'm not mad, but a little forewarning would have been kind," you said, displaying the food on the table, still avoiding his gaze. You could feel his eyes burning into the back of your head.

"C'mon," he said, looping his arms around your frame from behind you, making you drop the croissant you were holding. "I miss my little (Y/N)," he whispered in your ear, kissing you softly right behind its shell. His hands on your lower stomach had you shivering all over and you mentally cursed yourself for being such a weak woman, helpless and hopelessly in love with that infuriatingly hot and loveable man.

"You are aware of the hundreds of people working here and not so subtly watching us right now, huh?" You grinned, unable to conceal the smile on your face and the little squeak that escaped you when he leaned down and gently gave a bite to the soft flesh of your neck. "Seb!"

"I love you, you know that, right?"

At these words you knew you were doomed, and your heart melted into a puddle. Despite dating the guy for over a year now, you still couldn't shake off the feeling of being a school girl with a crush, and if at first you tried to get rid of the feeling, now you thrived in it. What if he brought out the child in you? What if he was simply too adorable to stay mad at? What if he cut off his hair? It was nice too – and it would grow back. You didn't care about these things at this point.

"I know, but not as much as I love you," you replied with a mischievous smile, turning around in his arms, and right when Sebastian opened his mouth to argue, you shoved a muffin in his mouth and ran away, giggling.

"This means war, (Y/N)" Sebastian shouted. After the first moment of surprise, he started running after you and all hell broke loose on set.


End file.
